The Government has decided to fast-track the legislation due to concerns that communications service providers, such as fixed line and mobile telephone network operators and internet service providers, would start deleting communications data that they are obliged to retain under the Data Retention Regulations of 2009. This followed a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union that keeping data on individuals was unlawful and invalid on the basis that it was a disproportionate interference with the fundamental rights of individuals to a private life and to protection of their personal data. Other counties have accepted Court of Justice of the European Union judgement while the UK have taken moves to oppose it.
Basically, communications data can provide a very intimate picture of a your life – who they communicated with; by what means; the time and length of the communication; where the communication took place; and the frequency of the communications. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruling said: “those data, taken as a whole, may allow very precise conclusions to be drawn concerning the private lives of the persons whose data has been retained, such as the habits of everyday life, permanent or temporary places of residence, daily or other movements, the activities carried out, the social relationships of those persons and the social environments frequented by them”. It is this sort of data the Government wants to fixed line and mobile telephone network operators and internet service providers to keep on us.
The new act requires companies in the UK to keep and provide the authorities the following data upon request for an official body:
- data necessary to trace and identify a source of communication such as user IDs and IP addresses;
- data necessary to identify the destination of a communication such as the user ID or telephone number of the intended recipient of a call through the internet;
- data necessary to identify the date, time and duration of a communication, such as the date and time of log-on and log-off from the internet or an email service;
- data necessary to identify the type of communication, such as the email service provider or internet telephony provider used;
- data necessary to identify users’ communication equipment, such as the calling telephone number for dial-up internet.
The new act is meant to maintain the powers the Government had Data Retention Regulations and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, however it goes much further. Under the old regulations and act data could only be requested from companies within the UK. However the new act will allow the government to request data from companies and service providers outside the boarders of the UK. Those companies that fail to compile with such requests from the UK Government will face civil sanctions or criminal prosecution under the new act, which would result in directors facing up to two years in prison for non-compliance. This change will allow the Government to monitor offshore communications and give them access to data stored on overseas servers, such as Twitter, Facebook and forms of social media and email accounts such as Googlemail etc.
Like the previous act it would seem any public authority will be able to request data under the new act. Given the extra powers that have been added to the new act they local authorities will now be able to request access to content on social media sites. Given some of the court cases brought by councils against individuals who disagree with council policies this could be seen as a worrying development that could affect free speech in the UK, since it could be used to bully individuals by sometimes less than trustworthy local politicians or government officials.
Clearly with something as important as this and how it affects our civil liberties and human rights it is imperative that there should be an open public debate on the issue both in the nation and within parliament. However a deal was done between the three major political parties that effectively meant that the whole bill was done and dusted even before it came to parliament to be rushed through, which made a complete shambles of the idea of democracy. Even looking at the debate on the issue on the BBC website about purposed act when it was announced the majority of people seemed against it and the process of rushing it through.
The Governments on MP's are questioning the rush though of the act with Conservative MP for David Davis saying: “This Act of Parliament was driven through the House of Commons with ridiculous and unnecessary haste to meet a completely artificial emergency. As a result Members of Parliament had no opportunity to either research it, consider it or debate it properly and the aim of this legal action is to make the Government give the House the opportunity to do what it should have been allowed in the first place. Proper, considered and effective law making. The overall aim is to create law which both protects the security of our citizens without unnecessarily invading their privacy.”
Currently there are plans to oppose the introduction with a number of organisations objecting to the way the new act has been introduced. Personally I wish them success in their endeavours and hope that the Act has to be overturned and a proper public can take without the spin doctoring of the Prime Minister and his supporters getting in the way.
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